Niki Bezzant: There are no hormones in our chicken, never was

Did you hear the one about the watery chicken?

I was asked to comment on a story on this topic this week.

A man named Andrew Simpson has complained to the Commerce Commission about what he says is excessively watery chicken breasts.

Water, he says, that is being added to the chicken breasts he buys from the supermarket.

He took to Facebook and posted a picture of a pan full of chicken, swimming in liquid. He is convinced this is because water is being injected into the chicken by the processor or retailer.

When I first saw this story I thought it seemed highly unlikely that raw chicken breasts would be injected with water. Like other members of the media, I checked with Countdown - the supermarket in question - who confirmed water is not added.

It was more likely to be how the chicken was being cooked.

Cooking of all meat in a stir-fry, including chicken, can be disappointing if the pan is not hot enough when the meat is added, or if the pan is overcrowded with meat. This means the meat can't brown and moisture will be released.

We've all experienced this - a pan full of grey, watery mince is usually the result when we overfill the pan trying to save time.

Ever wondered why stir-fry recipes say to "brown meat (or chicken) in batches"? It's because of this very issue.

I feel Simpson's frustration. It's disappointing when dinner doesn't come out as planned. But I wonder how the chicken would turn out when treated differently, or cooked differently.

I also wonder why we seem increasingly quick to jump to the conclusion that "they" are messing with our food. The internet has a lot to answer for here, I think.

The web abounds with scary stories of dodgy farming practices: hormones in chicken, food poisoning outbreaks and horse meat masquerading as beef.

Some of these are totally accurate, some are utter nonsense.

And some are true for other countries, but don't apply in New Zealand.

Sticking to the chicken theme, the poultry industry here has been battling for years the persistent myth there are hormones in chicken. There never have been, for the record.

McDonald's has long had to publish information about its thickshakes, which some people still think contain chicken or pork fat.

In our modern world, if we don't want to spend all our time hunting, gathering, milling, butchering and cooking our food, we have to rely to some degree on food that is processed in some way.

Not all processed food is great - and some we're better off without. But it's not all evil, either.

And in New Zealand, our basic food supply is great especially compared to other countries.

We are lucky to have access to incredibly high quality local produce, meat, seafood and yes, manufactured food.

As the song goes, maybe we don't know how lucky we are.

• Niki Bezzant is editor-at-large of Healthy Food Guide.